A Standard Design for the Construction of a Multi-Apartment Residential Building Has Been Developed
To promote the availability of ergonomic, convenient-to-use and energy-efficient housing with low costs, including operating costs, a standard design has been developed for the construction of a multi-apartment residential building. The standard design is intended for both municipalities and other real estate developers to support the development of the housing stock and apartment rental market.
Minister of Economics Jānis Vitenbergs notes: “The development of a new standard design for the construction of a multi-apartment building was prompted by the situation with Latvia’s housing stock, which has not been significantly expanded with new multi-apartment buildings for at least 20 years. In the regions, this hinders the creation of new jobs and the return of Latvian nationals to their native municipalities. The standard design developed by the Ministry of Economics is an important tool for municipalities to promote the availability of new, modern, energy-efficient and economical housing in Latvia’s regions, while also contributing to economic development, as the standard design primarily provides for the use of locally produced construction materials. In addition, significant public funds will be saved on the development of new construction designs.”
The standard design is intended for the construction of a multi-apartment residential building with five above-ground floors, a basement and three sections (stairwells), each containing 30 apartments—for a total of 90 one- to four-room apartments. Each section also includes a lift. At the same time, the standard design can be adapted by reducing (to as few as one stairwell) or increasing the number of sections (stairwells).
The standard design has been developed so that it can be easily adapted to any location. It includes detailed construction design documentation, prepared and compiled in accordance with all applicable regulatory enactments, covering all parts of the construction design that do not vary depending on the building’s location, such as architecture, building structures (excluding foundations and basement structures), internal engineering systems, interior finishes and the cost estimate. All of the aforementioned parts of the standard design were developed in a Building Information Modelling (BIM) environment and therefore BIM models are also available for them. The cost estimate for the standard design includes, in detail and with precision, all works, materials and equipment included in the standard design and objectively required, and provides precise descriptions of their specifications and quantities.
To begin construction of a multi-apartment building under the standard design, the construction initiator needs to develop, in addition to the standard design documentation, only those design sections related to the building’s location and the external connections of engineering systems, which must be developed in order to fulfil the design conditions before construction work begins (the site section, the foundation and basement structural section, and the sections on connections to external engineering systems (heat supply and the heating unit, electricity supply and low-voltage systems, gas supply, water supply and sewerage)).
The standard design documentation and BIM models are available free of charge in the Construction Information System at https://bis.gov.lv/noderigi/tipveida-projekts.
Following a public procurement procedure conducted by the Ministry of Economics in 2020, the standard design for a multi-apartment residential building was developed in a BIM environment by an association of persons comprising SIA ‘’CUBED’’, SIA ‘’K FORMA’’, SIA ‘’MEP solutions’’ and SIA ‘’CORE projekts’’, while the quality inspection of the standard design was carried out by SIA CMB.
Author:
Public Relations Division
Ministry of Economics
em.gov.lv
